Sophia Bush appeared on
"Today" Wednesday (April 30) to promote
"Chicago PD" and the conclusion of a two-part crossover with
"Chicago Fire." But she also spoke to one of her passions: empowering girls and women to love themselves as they are.

"I'm incredibly blessed that one my best girlfriends from college started an amazing nonprofit called
I Am That Girl," Bush tells Matt Lauer. "Our whole mission is to remind women they're allowed to be in love and express who they are. ... We talk about being 'beautyFULL' from the inside out. It comes from collaborating with other women, not competing with them."

Bush acknowledges that the showbiz-industrial complex is built largely on appearances -- she's the cover model for the April issue of Maxim -- but hopes she can use her platform to drive home the point that looks are far from the most important thing for girls and women.

"I may be on TV and be photographed for magazines, but I don't think I'm perfect," she says. "... It took me till at this point in my life, at 31, to say, Hey, I'm gonna embrace my body and own it for me, not for anyone else. I'm not some rail-thin, 6-foot-tall runway model who was just born that way. I was born like this, and that's A-OK."

You can watch Bush's full "Today" segment above. Below, she teases the conclusion of the "Fire"-"PD" crossover and talks about what's on the horizon for her character. "Chicago PD" airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT Wednesday on NBC.